THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much.
(Applause.) Thank you. (Applause.) Well, you made my day.
(Laughter.) Well, thank you very much. And, Ed, thank you for the kind
introduction. And let me thank all of you for that very warm welcome.
It's a delight to be here this morning.

I want to thank the distinguished guests who've joined us,
especially Israel's ambassador to the United States, Danny Ayalon.
(Applause.) I also want to recognize the substantial delegation of
student attendees from all over the U.S.: Welcome to Washington, it's
good to see you here. (Applause.)

I'm grateful to the board of AIPAC for inviting me to be part of your
2006 Policy Conference. It's obviously a very well attended and
successful event. And to everyone attending the conference, I bring
personal greetings from our President, George W. Bush. (Applause.)

As always, AIPAC has brought together a large and public-minded group,
representing different parts of America, many callings in life, and
varied points of view on the issues of the day. Gathered here this
morning, some of us are Republicans; some of us are Democrats. Yet all
of us share a fundamental belief -- that the freedom and security of
Israel are vital interests to the United States of America. (Applause.)

Nearly 58 years ago, in May of 1948, the new Jewish state was declared.
On the day Israel came into being it was 12 midnight in Jerusalem -- six
o'clock in the evening here in Washington. Eleven minutes later, Harry
S. Truman made America the first nation to recognize Israel.
(Applause.) From that moment to this very day, the United States has
counted Israel as a special and valued friend that shares our basic
principles.

As fellow democracies, both founded in struggle, we have shown our
devotion to the ideals of liberty, equality, and the dignity of every
person. We have shown, as well, great resolve and deep faith in times
of testing and a true willingness to work and sacrifice for the cause of
peace. We are, as President Bush has said, natural allies. There is no
doubt that America's commitment to Israel's security is solid, enduring
and unshakeable. (Applause.)

Over the years, our two peoples have also known the good fortune of
having some very capable, resolute leaders come along when they were
most needed. In my career I've had the privilege of meeting a long line
of Israeli statesmen and women, including many prime ministers, starting
with Yitzhak Rabin in the mid '70's. And in recent days I've been
feeling especially grateful to have had many years of a relationship and
friendship with Ariel Sharon. (Applause.)

The Prime Minister's life has been in many respects a reflection of
Israel's modern history. He gave decades of service to Israel --
fighting in all of its wars, rising to high office, and leading the
nation with purpose. When their country came under attack, Israelis
knew that Ariel Sharon would stand in the line of fire. And in the
effort to achieve peace, which requires so much wisdom, and boldness,
and vision -- Israelis again placed their trust in this fearless member
of the pioneering generation. Last year at AIPAC's policy conference,
Prime Minister Sharon said, "I am willing to make painful compromises
for peace ...There is one thing on which we will not make any
compromises -- not now and not in the future -- and that is our
security." (Applause.)

Today Ariel Sharon's voice is silent, and our thoughts are with him as
he battles for his life. It's a comfort to know that his deeds will
live on, and in our memory the man himself will stand like a rock. We
honor him as one of the great statesmen of our time, and a man of peace.
(Applause.)

As a small country in a tough part of the world, Israel has always had
to be on guard against enemies to have a clear-eyed view of potential
threats, and to confront dangers squarely. Throughout its history, the
country has faced sudden, random acts of terrorism -- attacks intended
to shake Israel's confidence and break the will of its people. Yet
Israel has held firm, and has defended itself with patience, with moral
courage, and decisive action. Those are the very qualities by which
freedom is preserved, innocent lives are protected, and wars are won.
And by those qualities, Israel, and the United States, and all civilized
nations will win the war on terror. (Applause.)

To prevail in this fight, we must understand the nature of the enemy.
As Israelis have seen so many times, and as America experienced on
September 11th, 2001, the terrorist enemy is brutal and heartless. This
enemy wears no uniform, has no regard for the rules of warfare, and is
unconstrained by any standard of decency or morality. We are dealing
with enemies who plot and plan in secret, then attempt to slip into a
country, blend in among the innocent, and kill without mercy.

This enemy has a set of beliefs -- and we saw the expression of
those beliefs in the rule of the Taliban. They seek to impose a
dictatorship of fear, under which every man, woman, and child lives in
total obedience to a narrow, hateful ideology. This ideology rejects
tolerance, denies freedom of conscience, and demands that women be
pushed to the margins of society. Such beliefs can be imposed only
through force and intimidation, so those who refuse to bow to the
tyrants will be brutalized or killed -- and no person or group is
exempt.

The terrorists have targeted people of every nationality and every
religious faith, including Muslims who disagree with them. The war on
terror is a fight against evil; victory in this war will be a victory
for peaceful men and women of every religious faith. (Applause.)

This enemy also has a set of clear objectives. The terrorists want to
end all American and Western influence in the Middle East. Their goal
in that region is to seize control of a country, so they have a base
from which to launch attacks and wage war against governments that do
not meet their demands. The terrorists believe that by controlling one
country, they will be able to target and overthrow other governments in
the region, and ultimately to establish a totalitarian empire that
encompasses a region from Spain, across North Africa, through the Middle
East and South Asia, all the way around to Indonesia.

They have made clear, as well, their ultimate ambitions: to arm
themselves with chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons; to
destroy Israel; to intimidate all Western countries; and to cause mass
death here in the United States.

Some might look at these ambitions and wave them off as extreme and mad.
Well, these ambitions are, indeed, extreme and they are mad. They are
also real, and we must not wave them off. We must take them seriously.
We must oppose them. And we must defeat them. (Applause.)

Over the last several decades, Americans have seen how the terrorists
pursue their objectives. Simply stated, they would hit us, but we would
not hit back hard enough. In Beirut in 1983, terrorists killed 241
Americans, and afterward U.S. forces withdrew from Beirut. In 1993 we
had the killing of American soldiers in Mogadishu, and the bombing of
the World Trade Center in New York. Then came the attack on the Saudi
National Guard Training Center in Riyadh in 1995; the killings at Khobar
Towers in 1996; the attack on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in
1998; and, of course, the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. With each
attack, the terrorists grew more confident in believing they could
strike America without paying a price -- and indeed, believing that if
they killed enough Americans, they could change American policy.

So they continued to wage those attacks -- making the world less safe
and eventually striking the United States in our homeland on September
11th. And we've seen the work of terrorists in many attacks since 9/11
-- in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Casablanca, Istanbul, Karachi, Mombassa, Bali,
Jakarta, Najaf, Baghdad, London and Madrid. The terrorists have
declared war on the civilized world. And America will lead the
civilized world to victory. (Applause.)

We have a strategy of our own in this fight. First, we are absolutely
determined to prevent attacks before they occur, and so we are on the
offensive against the terror networks. (Applause.) At home and with
coalition partners abroad, we've broken up terror cells, tracked down
terrorist operatives, and put heavy pressure on their ability to
organize and plan attacks. The work is difficult and very often
perilous, and there is much yet to do. But we've made tremendous
progress against an enemy that dwells in the shadows. We've counted on
the skill and the dedication of our professionals in law enforcement,
intelligence, and homeland security -- and, of course, on the United
States military. They have been superb, and they make us proud each and
every day. (Applause.)

Second, we are determined to deny safe haven to the terrorists. Since
the day our country was attacked, we have applied the Bush Doctrine:
Any person or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists
is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and will be held to account.
(Applause.)

Third, we are working to halt the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, and to keep those weapons out of the hands of killers. In
the post-9/11 world, the United States and our allies are determined:
we will not live at the mercy of terrorists or regimes that could arm
them with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. This requires that
we deal with threats before they fully materialize. (Applause.)

The President has put it very well: "Terrorists and terror states do not
reveal these threats with fair notice, in formal declarations -- and
responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not
self-defense, it's suicide." (Applause.) By whatever means are
necessary -- whether diplomatic or military -- we will act to protect
the liberty and lives of our people. (Applause.)

Fourth, we are determined to deny the terrorists the control of any
nation, which they would use as a home base and a staging ground for
terrorist attacks against others. That is why we continue to fight
Taliban remnants and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. That's why we are
working with President Musharraf to oppose and isolate the terrorist
element in Pakistan. And that is why we are fighting the Saddam
remnants and terrorists in Iraq. (Applause.)

Our strategy in Iraq is clear, our tactics will remain flexible, and
we'll keep at the work until we finish the job. (Applause.) On the
security side, our forces are hunting down high-value targets like
Zarqawi and his lieutenants. Our soldiers and Marines are conducting
smart, focused, aggressive, counterterrorism operations in the areas
where the terrorists are known to be concentrated. And our coalition
continues to train more Iraqi forces that are effective, well trained
and well equipped, and prepared to assume increased responsibility for
their country's security.

As the security force grows in strength and the political process
advances, we'll be able to decrease troop levels without losing our
capacity to defeat the terrorists. And going forward, any decisions
about troop levels will be driven by conditions on the ground and the
judgment of our commanders -- not by artificial timelines set by
politicians in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

Progress in Iraq has not come easily, but it has been steady. A short
time ago, the Iraqi people had an appointed government, no popularly
elected legislature, no permanent constitution and no recent experience
with free national elections. In less than two years' time they've
voted for a transitional government, drafted a progressive, democratic
constitution in the heart of the Arab world, then approved the document
in a national referendum, and elected a new government under its
provisions. And in each successive election in Iraq there has been less
violence, broader participation, and bigger voter turnout -- over 70
percent turn-out in the most recent election. (Applause.) Iraqis have
shown that they value their own liberty and are determined to chart the
future of their own country.

It is not hard to see why the terrorists oppose and rage against the
rise of democracy in Iraq. They know that as liberty advances, as men
and women are given a say in the affairs of their country, they turn
their creative gifts to the pursuits of peace. People who live in
freedom are able to choose their own destiny, and this gives them real
hope for material progress in their own lives, and a better future for
their children. As democracy advances, ideologies that stir anger and
hostility lose their appeal, and terrorists lose recruits, safe havens,
and sources of funding.

For that reason, our strategy for victory in the war on terror has a
fifth and crucial element: Across the broader Middle East, we will work
to replace hatred and resentment with democracy and hope. (Applause.)

Supporting political freedom and peaceful change in a troubled part of
the world is a long-term commitment. And we already know that the work
will be difficult. Yet there is no alternative. On 9/11, the United
States learned that problems boiling in a far-off region of the world
could lead directly to a sudden and murderous attack right here on our
own soil. For decades in the Middle East, millions of people have known
nothing but dictatorship and heavy-handed rule -- resulting in misery,
bitterness, and the ideologies of violence. If we simply accept the
status quo, that region will be a source of conflict and mounting
violence for this generation and beyond.

If the peoples of that region are given the rights of free men and
women, and live under elected, accountable governments, and have a
chance to work and succeed in hopeful societies, then the flow of
radicalism and hate will one day come to an end.

In this way, as the President has said, America's ideals and interests
are one and the same: The survival of liberty in our own land
increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands; the best
hope for peace in the world is the expansion of freedom throughout the
world. (Applause.)

As Americans, we have faith in democracy, but no illusions. We know
that it takes time and effort and patience for democratic values and
free institutions to take hold, and the greater Middle East has a long
way to go. The promise of democracy rests ultimately on free elections
and the ability of free peoples to hold accountable those who govern
them -- but that is only the beginning.

A functioning democracy requires institutions that endure beyond a
single vote. Democracy requires the protection of minority rights,
religious liberty, equality before the law, freedom of expression, and
an inclusive society in which every person belongs. And those who win
elections have a duty to nurture institutions and laws that serve the
peaceful aspirations of their people.

Such duties now belong to the newly elected government in the
Palestinian territories. I recognize that the outcome of last month's
election has caused some to question whether democracy is truly the way
toward peace in the Middle East. They argue that, by promoting
democratic change, we are actually destabilizing the region and
undermining hopes for peace. I believe that's a faulty argument.

For one thing, it's hard to claim that you get lasting stability and
peace by denying people a voice in their own government. In fact, the
denial of legitimate means of expressing dissent is one of the causes of
extremism in the Middle East. For decades, many thought it was worth
tolerating oppression for the sake of stability in that region. But we
were only buying time as problems multiplied, and demagogues stirred
resentment, and the ideologies of violence took hold.

We must make a clean break with that history of failed policy. By
helping the peoples of that region gain the freedom to express their
views, to have open debate, and to choose their own leaders, we have a
better chance of defeating the radicalism that threatens us all.
(Applause.)

An alternative to democratic rule is command and control by a tiny
elite. That's unfortunately what we have seen for much of the past
decade in the Palestinian territories -- and we're still living with the
legacy of corruption, broken promises, abject poverty, the collapse of
the rule of law and, ultimately, the outbreak of a terrorist campaign on
Israel's doorstep. The Hamas candidates pledged to fight corruption and
to improve social services, and they'll be held to that standard by the
Palestinian people. If the leaders of Hamas desire the help of America
and the international community to build an independent, prosperous
Palestinian state, then the way forward is very clear. The Palestinian
government must recognize Israel's right to exist. (Applause.) And
Hamas must renounce terror and dismantle the infrastructure of terror.
(Applause.) One thing is certain: The United States will not be a
party to the establishment of a Palestinian state that sponsors terror
and violence. (Applause.)

Nearly four years ago President Bush committed himself to the vision of
two states, living side by side in peace and security. At the same
time, he made it clear: There is simply no way to achieve that peace
until all parties fight terror.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the basic truths of the world we live in
today is that George W. Bush is a man of his word. (Applause.) The
policies of the United States reflect our ideals and the commitments
we've made as a nation. And we will be consistent. We will not abandon
our belief in democracy. We will not abandon our opposition to
terrorism. And we will not abandon our commitment to the security of
our friends and allies. Israel can count on the United States of
America. (Applause.)

Over the past four years, other free nations have risen in the broader
Middle East. America will remain on the side of democratic reformers,
and the reformers are on the side of history. Across that region, the
political dialogue has been transformed -- and politicians, scholars,
students, and men and women from every walk of life are talking about
freedom, equal rights, and accountable institutions of government. One
leader in Lebanon said: "When I saw the Iraqi people voting, it was the
start of a new Arab world...The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all
say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see
it."

Indeed, the whole world can see the change, and the rising hope in
places like Lebanon. Now that Syrian troops have left that country, the
Syrian government must stop trying to interfere with the future of free
Lebanon. (Applause.) America is committed to a sovereign, independent,
Lebanon, dismantling all armed militias, and control by Lebanon's
government over all of Lebanon's territory. (Applause.)

The inquiry into the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri
should be carried out in full, so the killers can be brought to justice
and all those involved -- no matter what their official positions may be
-- can be held accountable. (Applause.) America supports the Lebanese
people in their aspirations for freedom and democracy. They deserve the
right to decide their country's future, and they deserve a President who
truly represents them and who looks to the future, not to the past.
(Applause.)

America supports, as well, the democratic aspirations of the people
of Iran. (Applause.) Iranians have endured a generation of repression
at the hands of a fanatical regime. That regime is one of the world's
primary state sponsors of terror. The current President has spoken
openly of wiping Israel off the map, and of a world without America.
He's made despicable statements doubting the crimes of the Nazis,
aligning himself with the rest of the fantasy-world Holocaust deniers.

The regime in Tehran also continues to defy the world with its nuclear
ambitions. Of course, this matter may soon go before the U.N. Security
Council. The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its
present course, the international community is prepared to impose
meaningful consequences. (Applause.) For our part, the United States
is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible
conduct of the regime. (Applause.) And we join other nations in
sending that regime a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a
nuclear weapon. (Applause.)

The people of Iran can be absolutely certain that we respect them, their
country, and their long history as a great civilization -- and we stand
with them. Iranians desire and deserve to be free from tyranny and
oppression in their own homeland. Freedom in the Middle East requires
freedom for the Iranian people -- and America looks forward to the day
when our Nation can be the closest of friends with a free and democratic
Iran. (Applause.)

In the months and years ahead, America will continue to support
democracy as the expression of our ideals for the sake of our own
security, as well as for that of our friends and allies. And we will
continue to act with the kind of resolve that has made these past five
years a time of progress in the broader Middle East.

Consider for a moment where we were five years ago, when President Bush
and I took office. The secret planning for the attacks of 9/11 was
already well underway. Hijackers had been recruited; funds raised;
training had taken place. Some of the hijackers were already in the
United States. In Afghanistan, the Taliban were in power. Al Qaeda was
operating training camps that in the late '90s turned out thousands of
terrorists. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was in power, overseeing, along
with his two malevolent sons, one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th
century.

Five years ago, there was a serious problem with proliferation,
especially in the nuclear area. A. Q. Khan, the man who helped put
Pakistan's nuclear program in place, had established a network that was
providing nuclear weapons technology to rogue states including North
Korea and Iran. And Moammar Ghadafi of Libya, one of the A.Q. Khan
network's biggest customers, was spending millions to acquire nuclear
weapons.

Today the picture is very different. The Taliban regime is now history,
and 25 million Afghans are free. (Applause.) We have captured or
killed hundreds of al Qaeda; put its leaders on the run; and closed the
camps that had trained the killers. (Applause.) Saddam Hussein wakes
up every day in a jail cell, his sons are dead -- (applause) -- and
Iraqis by the millions have embraced democracy. (Applause.) Iraq's
leaders reflect the decency of the Iraqi people, and no dictator is
taking their money and giving it to the families of suicide bombers.
(Applause.)

Only days after Saddam was captured, the leader of Libya announced he
would turn over all of his weapons of mass destruction materials.
(Applause.) A short time later, Libya's uranium and centrifuges were
sent to a U.S. facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (Applause.) And the
A.Q. Khan proliferation network has been shut down. (Applause.)

Our great country, which over the decades has aided the rise of new
democracies in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, now serves that cause in
the Middle East -- with courage, and firm purpose, and a level of
generosity by the American people not seen since the Marshall Plan.

Five years ago, many would have found it hard to imagine that all these
changes were on the way. And, obviously, they did not just happen.
Because we've been willing to act on our convictions, we live in a
better world today. We cannot know every turn that lies ahead in the
fight against terror, and tyranny, and proliferation. Yet at every
point, we will be patient and resolute -- because the supporters of
democracy will need our help, and the enemies of democracy will test our
will. And we will be confident, because events are moving in the
direction of human liberty. Freedom's cause is the right cause, and
every action we take in support of it makes this world better and safer
for our children. (Applause.)

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate your hospitality this
morning. The President and I are grateful for your counsel, for your
commitment to the security of our country, and for all you do on behalf
of America's friendship with Israel.